What happens as Army goes soft on drugs
DRESSED in combat uniform, a British soldier casually leans over a desk in his barracks to snort a line of cocaine while his comrades gleefully film him on their mobile phones.
The shocking footage, shared among troops on social media, then shows the squaddie rubbing the illegal white powder around his gums.
The video was recorded earlier this year after the Army dropped its ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards drug taking.
As The Mail on Sunday has previously revealed, the Ministry of Defence has been forced to offer second and even third chances to troops who fail compulsory drug tests (CDTs), because of a manpower crisis.
As recently as 2015, only 5 per cent of troops were allowed to stay in the Army after failing a CDT. Now it is 43 per cent.
The disturbing video suggests that the Army’s more relaxed approach has convinced troops they can ignore UK laws on taking Class A drugs. Other pictures also shared on social media and seen by The Mail on Sunday show quantities of cocaine, other hard drugs such as ketamine, and soldiers’ official British Army identity cards.
The images were shared on a private Facebook group called The Sesh.
Last night, an MoD spokesman said: ‘Drug abuse is incompatible with military service and personnel are subject to random compulsory drug testing. Except in exceptional circumstances, soldiers caught taking drugs can expect to be discharged.’